Horse racing fans left furious after TV coverage missed photo finish of main Derby Day race

Horse racing fans were livid after they were unable to watch the result of the Derby Day main race’s photo finish after the broadcast was cut in regional areas.

Horse racing fans were left furious on Derby Day when Network Ten’s affiliate broadcaster Southern Cross Austereo cut to an ad break with just hundreds of metres to go in the main race and before the photo finish had been decided.

Ten has a five-year broadcast deal with the Victoria Racing Club that ends this year and it holds rights to the Melbourne Cup Carnival including Derby Day, Melbourne Cup, Oaks Day and Stakes Day.

SCA uses the provider NPC Media to facilitate its racing broadcasts. An NPC Media spokesman said it had, “made the unfortunate error of switching to an ad break” on Saturday afternoon when the main race result was still unfolding.

“We sincerely apologise for the interruption to the race coverage and we are investigating the incident,” he said.

Impacted viewers included those watching Channel 10 in southern NSW, regional Victoria and regional Qld, NT, SA (Spencer Gulf) and Tasmania.

Viewers were left gobsmacked when the victory by Riff Rocket in a photo finish couldn’t be watched after the broadcast shot to an ad break prematurely.

Many sports fans posted their annoyance on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

One viewer wrote: “Just watched the wors(t) day of TV racing coverage ever, Channel 10 coverage was worse than ­pathetic, a photo finish in the Derby and they go immediately to a 6-ad break.

“Nothing but an absolute joke #MelbCupCarnival #patheticCupWeekOn10.”

While another fan wrote, “Channel 10 cutting to an ad break with 400 to go in the Derby. Thank god they are losing the rights next year #farcial #DerbyDay.”

Official ratings data from OzTAM showed Ten’s Derby Day broadcast had 72,000 viewers in the five major cities and another 35,000 regional viewers.

An SCA spokeswoman confirmed the error and apologised for disrupting the broadcast.

“We would like to apologise to 10 viewers in the affected markets for this broadcast interruption and are working with NPC Media to ensure this does not happen again,” she said.

The TV rights have not been decided for 2024 onwards, however it’s likely Nine will take over from Ten in a deal that could span up to six years.